DevM's GCS meta game

We are closing in on the conclusion of the GCS series in which DevM and Luvnest will battle it out to become the king of CoH2. Time to check out what strategies brought them into the finals.

This post will recap DevM's games in terms of faction, map, commander and unit choices. A similar post for Luvnest will go up soon. General stats for all players in the GCS main round are listed here.

Meta and build order was extracted from the replay files with an automatic script. The restrictions of replay files is that they only record player's orders, not if those were carried out successfully. Also, cancel orders are unpacked ambiguously; while the script attempts to sort these out, there is no guarantee that numbers are 100% accurate. In particular, the number of mines might be inflated.

The tables with units and build orders below work just like those in the WPC meta posts, so check those out for more details.

The post starts with basics faction and map stats, then present faction specific meta choices and end with tech and build orders for each game.

Basic stats

Unlike in previous tournaments, DevM this time used both OH and OKW on the axis side, albeit with a preference to his main axis faction, OH. Both OKW games where against Soviets, one game against VonAsten, the other against Talisman. The latter also is one of the few games he lost. The other two games were against VonIvan in the Semifinals on Faymonville; one of those with OH against Soviets, the other with USF versus OKW, although the latter was due to a bugsplat.

Interestingly, all of DevM's six axis games were against Soviets.

In terms of maps, DevM had the most games on Faymonville, but so far no games on Kholodny Ferma.

Faction meta

Ostheer

As mentioned earlier, all of DevM's games as axis were against Soviets. His Ostheer commander loadout was always the same:

games

commanders

vs.

4

Lightning War Doctrine

Mechanized Assault Doctrine

Mobile Defense Doctrine

soviets100%

usf 0%

ukf 0%

Out of these, he picked Mobile Defense twice and Lightning War once. In the game vs. FaHu, he did not use any commander. The two games against FaHu and Talisman were rather conventional in terms of teching, going T1/T2/T3. However, in the two games against VonIvan's Soviets he skipped from T1 to T4 and T1 to T3, respectively. In these, Pumas provided the AT in midgame.

Infantry units:

unit

total

games

of

Grenadiers

20

4

4

Sniper

5

4

4

MG42

3

3

3

unit

total

games

of

PaK 40

2

1

2

Pioneers

1

1

4

Panzergrenadiers

1

1

2

The table above indicates the infantry units used by DevM. The "total" column gives the sum of all units build in all games, the "games" column gives the number of games in which the unit was build and finally "of" indicates in how many games the unit was available (because the tech structure was build or the relevant doctrine was picked). Doctrinal units are indicated by blue writing (see examples in the "vehicle" table below).

DevM seems to favor grenadier heavy builds (with about five per game), augmented by a sniper and - in three out of four games - a MG42. A PaK or Panzergrenadiers were only used in one game (note again the T2 was skipped in two games).

Vehicles:

unit

total

games

of

Sdkfz 234 'Puma'

3

2

2

Flakpanzer IV Ostwind

2

1

3

SdKfz. 222

2

2

2

Panzer IV

2

1

3

unit

total

games

of

Command Panzer IV

1

1

2

Tiger PzKpfw VI

1

1

1

StuG G

1

1

3

Panther PzKpfw V

1

1

1

DevM's most "built" vehicle was the Puma; however, he used all T3 units at one point and even brought out a Panther in G1 against VonIvan.

"Buildings":

unit

total

games

of

Tellermine

10

4

4

S-mine field

5

2

4

unit

total

games

of

Medic Station

4

4

4

Fuel Cache

1

1

4

At least one Tellermine and one medic bunker was built in each game.

Build orders:

1st unit

2nd unit

3rd unit

4th unit

5th unit

2

2

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

OKW

Unlike in previous tournaments, DevM used OKW in about a third of his axis games (during the ESL tourneys he almost exclusively used OH. Still, this only means that he used OKW in two games, both against Soviets.

games

commanders

vs.

2

Special Operations Doctrine

Breakthrough Doctrine

Feuersturm Doctrine

soviets100%

usf 0%

ukf 0%

The loadout was indentical in both game. He ended up picking Breakthrough in G3 against Talisman; G1 against VonAsten ended without a doctrinal choice.

In terms of teching, he started with the BG-HQ against Talisman, then proceeding to build a LeiG and a Flak-HT. Against VonAsten he teched Mech-Reg. first and then brought out a Luchs and a Puma.

Each game saw at least one Schu-Mine for a total of four.

Infantry units:

unit

total

games

of

Volksgrenadiers

8

2

2

Raketenwerfer

2

2

2

unit

total

games

of

7.5cm le.IG

2

1

1

Panzerfüsiliers

1

1

1

Vehicles:

unit

total

games

of

SdKfz 234 'Puma'

1

1

1

Panzer II Ausf. L 'Luchs'

1

1

1

unit

total

games

of

SdKfz 251/17 Flak Half-track

1

1

1

Build order:

1st unit

2nd unit

3rd unit

4th unit

5th unit

2

2

2

2

1

1

USF

DevM is best know for his aggressive USF play. And while he played Soviets in almost half of the games during ESL, he exclusively used USF on the allied side this time for a total of nine games.

games

commanders

vs.

5

Armor Company

Mechanized Company

Heavy Cavalry Company

ostheer 0%

okw 63%

4

Armor Company

Tactical Support Company

Heavy Cavalry Company

ostheer100%

okw 38%

He used two different commander loadouts. Both contain Armor and Heavy Cavalry Company. In the first loadout (which was used in five games against OKW) the third place was taken up be Mechanized Company. The second loadout, used in the remaining three games against OKW and the sole game against OH featured Tactical Support Company instead.

He ended up using Mechanized twice, Armor Company five times and no commander in the other two games, one of which was G3 against FaHu's OH.

DevM always teched Lt. first. In three games he then skipped the Captain to a Major. In all others, a Captain was fielded. However, in only one out of those he then teched on to the Major.

Infantry units:

unit

total

games

of

Riflemen

28

9

9

M2HB .50 cal

12

8

9

unit

total

games

of

M1 57mm Anti-Tank Gun

5

4

6

Of course Riflemen was the dominant infantry unit. However, all but one games also saw a .50 cal. Except for two anti-tank guns, no other weapon teams were fielded.

Vehicles:

unit

total

games

of

M10 'Wolverine'

10

5

5

WC54 ¾ Ton Ambulance

9

9

9

M4A3 Sherman

7

4

4

M20 Utility Car

7

7

9

unit

total

games

of

M5A1 Stuart

6

6

6

105mm Bulldozer Sherman

5

5

5

WC51 Military Truck

2

2

2

M36 'Jackson' Tank Destroyer

1

1

4

The most used vehicle was the M10, which was fielded in all of the games where Armor Company was used. That is also the case with the Bulldozer Sherman. The only games that saw no M20 were G3 against VonAsten and G4 against Talisman. A Stuart was built in every game in which Captain was teched.

Build orders:

1st unit

2nd unit

3rd unit

4th unit

5th unit

9

9

7

7

6

1

2

2

2

Games

This section lists the games on DevM's path to the GCS finals. The spoilers contain a brief summary for each game, including BOs, commanders and tech choices for both players. The green box in the summary indicates the winner.

Round of 32

DevM vs. Incredible FaHu

3:0

G1

Incredible FaHu

soviets

vs.

DevM

ostheer

Faymonville Approach

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

Incredible FaHu

DevM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

G2

DevM

usf

vs.

Incredible FaHu

okw

Faymonville Approach

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

Incredible FaHu

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

G3

DevM

usf

vs.

Incredible FaHu

ostheer

Crossing in the Woods

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

Incredible FaHu

0

2

4

6

8

10

Round of 16

DevM vs. VonAsten

3:0

G1

VonAsten

soviets

vs.

DevM

okw

Crossroads

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

VonAsten

DevM

0

2

4

6

8

10

G2

DevM

usf

vs.

VonAsten

okw

Crossroads

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

VonAsten

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

28

30

G3

DevM

usf

vs.

VonAsten

okw

Crossing in the Woods

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

VonAsten

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

26

Quarterfinals

DevM vs. Talisman

3:1

G1

Talisman

soviets

vs.

DevM

ostheer

Faymonville Approach

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

Talisman

DevM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

26

28

G2

DevM

usf

vs.

Talisman

okw

Faymonville Approach

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

Talisman

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

G3

Talisman

soviets

vs.

DevM

okw

Crossing in the Woods

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

Talisman

DevM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

G4

DevM

usf

vs.

Talisman

okw

Crossing in the Woods

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

Talisman

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

26

Semifinals

DevM vs. VonIvan

3:2

G1

VonIvan

soviets

vs.

DevM

ostheer

Crossroads

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

VonIvan

DevM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

G2

DevM

usf

vs.

VonIvan

okw

Crossroads

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

DevM

VonIvan

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

G3

VonIvan

soviets

vs.

DevM

ostheer

Faymonville Approach

Commander loadout:

Commander loadout:

Commander picked:

Commander picked:

Teching:

Teching:

Build order:

min.

VonIvan

DevM

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

18

G4

This game was ruled in favor of VonIvan due to DevM suffering from a bugsplat.